Monthly Archives: October 2008

2008 Campaign

More endorsements for Schock

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From a press release:

Aaron Schock Earns Support from 9 Unions

(PEORIA) Representative Aaron Schock picked up the support of nine unions in his bid to succeed Ray LaHood as Congressman for the 18th District.

The unions include:

  • National Education Association, NEA, the largest union representing teachers in the 18th District
  • Illinois Education Association, IEA
  • The International Union of Operating Engineers
  • The National Association of Police Organizations, NAPO
  • The Illinois Police Benevolent and Protective Union
  • The Peoria Police Benevolent and Protective Union
  • The International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO, FIREPAC
  • United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
  • Airline Pilots Association International Union

In issuing their endorsement, the NEA wrote to Schock saying, “The NEA and IEA are proud to support the election of federal candidates, like you, who measure up to the issues that most concern our members.

The NEA and IEA are the union representing the largest number of teachers in the 18th District.

Schock recently was the keynote speaker at the Illinois Police Benevolent and Protective Union’s annual convention in Springfield earlier this month. He received a warm welcome and rousing ovation for his remarks to the members and the leaders held a news conference with Schock announcing their endorsement.

NAPO represents more than 2,000 police unions and associations, 241,000 sworn law enforcement officers, 11,000 retired officers and more than 100,000 citizens who share a common dedication to fair and effective crime control and law enforcement.

The International Union of Operating Engineers; the Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners; the National Education Association’s NEA Fund, and the International Association of Fire Fighters AFL-CIO FIREPAC also sent the maximum allowable $5,000 contribution to Schock’s campaign fund.

“I am honored to have the support of working men and women and the support of these organized labor unions,” said Schock. “I had a productive relationship with union representatives as a State Representative and my door will always be open as I try my very best to represent all the people of the 18th District.”

City of Peoria, Taxes

Are downtown properties underassessed?

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While I was looking at some property information on Main Street, I noticed a disparity between the assessed value of the property and what actual sales have been. Here are the properties adjacent to the Pere Marquette on Main:

Property ID Address Assessed Value 2007 Taxes
1809206011 533 Main $14,280.00 $1,174.82
1809206012 531 Main $178,700.00 $14,701.58
1809206013 527-529 Main $87,580.00 $7,205.18
1809206014 519 Main $58,780.00 $4,835.82
TOTAL $339,340.00 $27,917.40

That gives those properties, according to the tax assessor, a fair market value of $1,018,020 (i.e., three times the assessed value). However, also according to the assessor, these four properties were sold for $1.05 million in 1997, and $1.5 million in 2004. So the current assessed value is lower than the properties were worth over 10 years ago, and a half-million dollars lower than they were worth four years ago. Underassessment means lost revenue to the city as well as the county.

Are we talking about a lot of money in lost tax receipts here? Maybe not one year from just these four properties (although every little bit helps when the city is looking at a $2.2 million deficit). But over time, it adds up.

And what if this isn’t an anomaly? What if other downtown properties are underassessed? I think it’s worth investigating, especially with the city in need of extra money and contemplating raising taxes and fees. Why shouldn’t downtown property holders pay their fair share?

General News, St. Louis Cardinals

Congrats to the Phillies

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Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series for the second time in their 126-year franchise history by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3. The game actually started Monday night, but ended up getting suspended in the middle of the sixth inning due to rain. The Phillies beat the Rays four games to one in the best-of-seven series.

So ends the 2008 baseball season. Hopefully the Cardinals will make some key acquisitions in the off-season and return to the World Series next year.

City of Peoria, General News

Big Al’s looking for new digs

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According to the latest Liquor Commission agenda, Big Al’s is requesting a liquor license for 414 NE Hamilton. Rumor has it that the Pere Marquette has bought out Big Al’s current location for (pardon the pun) an obscene amount of money. So now, Big Al’s has its eye on this building:

For context, the G.A.R. Hall is two doors to the left, Enterprise car rental is next door to the right, and across the street is the Associated Bank building. I hear tell some tenants in the latter building are opposed to Big Al’s moving in across the street.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council Roundup 10/28/08

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Possibly the biggest news from Tuesday’s Peoria City Council meeting is that the council decided not to pursue purchasing the Peoria District waterworks. So, the clock starts ticking — the city has the option of buying back the waterworks every five years, so mark your calendars for 2013 when this will come up again. The vote, by the way, was 4-7. Voting in favor were councilpersons Manning, Sandberg, Montelongo, and Van Auken.

Naturally, the council approved a temporary change to the Form District portion of the Land Development Code (which I discussed in a previous post). The vote was 9-2, with councilmen Sandberg and Jacob voting against it.

A new Tax Increment Finance (TIF) district was created downtown. Sandberg was the lone “no” vote. This TIF is part of the new “Hospitality Improvement Zone Tax Increment Redevelopment Plan and Project” (HIZTIRPAP?), which, if I understand it correctly, is designed to help existing downtown hotels improve and encourage the development of new hotels downtown — especially a hotel near the Civic Center. I’ve heard unconfirmed rumors that the Pere Marquette is going to be one of the first hotels to take advantage of these incentives by planning an expansion.

The council made no decision on whether to raise elected officials’ salaries, deferring the item until next Monday’s special meeting. However, there was a last-minute attempt by councilperson Van Auken to tie any future raises to the Consumer Price Index instead of a flat percentage. This led to a six-and-a-half-minute sermon from councilman Nichting on the value of public service and the sacrifices of public servants.

The other two newsworthy items were that (a) they denied a liquor license to Target in the Glen Hollow shopping center, and (b) they appointed F. Eugene Rebholz to the Peoria Public Library Board of Trustees, replacing Frank Gold, chairman of the library’s building committee.

Voting

Did early voting save you time?

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A co-worker of mine recently voted early in an effort to avoid the long lines on election day. As a result, he waited in line over 30 minutes to vote early — longer than he’s ever had to wait to vote in his life (and he’s been voting since the Nixon administration).

So now I’m curious. Those of you who voted early, what was your experience? Was it more convenient? Quicker? Why did you vote early? Did it meet your expectations?

Television

Group suggests killing OTA television

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A think tank called the New America Foundation made a radical suggestion at a conference held at Google’s headquarters in California: kill over-the-air television.

…Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said we should “take TV off the air” in a few years and replace it entirely with cable, satellite and Internet viewing.

“All channels should be available by broadband, with the government possibly subsidizing cable and satellite providers to deliver free Lifeline service,” Calabrese said.

The major networks and National Association of Broadcasters were not amused. They immediately wrote the FCC, urging them to “protect the public’s free, over-the-air broadcasting service.”

2008 Campaign

More endorsements for Darin LaHood

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There was a press conference yesterday at which several city leaders endorsed Darin LaHood for State’s Attorney:

Mayor Jim Ardis and At-large Councilman Gary Sandberg both spoke at a news conference in City Council chambers supporting LaHood. Councilmen Bob Manning and George Jacob were present. Councilmen Jim Montelongo, Patrick Nichting, Ryan Spain and Eric Turner have indicated their support….

Other supporters at the news conference included Jim McConoughey, representing the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, and several police officers.

Peoria Public Schools

D150: Where does all the money go?

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This is the first year we’ve put our kids in District 150. Before this year, my oldest daughter had attended a private school. Private schools, of course, don’t get any public money. Here’s how much public money goes to District 150, shown both in aggregate and per pupil:

Instructional Expenditure Per Pupil*: $6,297
Operating Expenditure Per Pupil*: $11,521
Local Property Tax Revenue*: $65,921,368
Other Local/State/Federal Revenue*: $84,928,611

One would think with that much revenue and per-pupil expenditures, all the schools’ needs would be more than met. Not so. First, we had to pay an additional fee for book rental. For our two school-age children, that came to $100. Then there have been the fundraisers — lots of fundraisers — more fundraisers than we ever had at a private school with no public funding and considerably less per-pupil (tuition) costs:

School fundraising requests received
within first two months of school year:		 4†
PTO fundraising requests received
within first two months of school year:		 3‡
Charitable fundraising requests received
within first two months of school year:		 2
TOTAL: 9

Note that this is just the fundraising requests received in the first two months of the school year. Who knows how many more are on their way. I don’t begrudge the charitable fundraisers, but include them in the chart merely to show the totality of how many requests for funds bombard parents of District 150 students — parents who, like all taxpayers in District 150, are already spending an enormous amount of money in property taxes, state taxes, and federal taxes to support public education.

Lest you think I’m being petty here, take a look at those numbers again. Totaling the per pupil instructional and operating expenditures per pupil, that comes to $17,818… per pupil. High school tuition at Peoria Christian School is only $4,932 per year. According to Peoria Notre Dame’s website, their “projected cost for educating a student for 2008 – 2009 is over $7,000.” That $7,000+ is paid for by a combination of tuition, subsidies, fundraisers, and some miscellaneous revenue sources.

Meanwhile, at District 150, they receive nearly $18,000 per student in public money. So why the need for additional private funds in the form of so many fundraisers? My question is basically this: Where does all the money go?

__________

*Source: Interactive Illinois Report Card, 2005-06 Fiscal Year

†Magazine subscriptions for computers; General Mills Boxtops for cash; recycling of aluminum cans for cash; Usborne Books’ “Reach for the Stars” for school & classroom library books.

‡Spirit Wear for cash; Bergner’s Community Day for cash; Butter Braids frozen pastry/cookie dough for cash. Cash used for Accelerated Reader program, subscription to Time Magazine for Kids, and other programs.

City of Peoria, Form-Based Code, HOPC

Heart of Peoria Commission votes against temporary LDC changes

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The city’s Planning and Growth Department is spearheading an effort to review the portion of the Land Development Code (LDC) that deals with form-based code districts “to determine if all the regulations are performing as anticipated and to ensure compatible development which meets the purpose statements of the code.” Toward that end, they have done two things:

  1. Established an LDC Review Committee. The LDC Committee is comprised of two representatives from the Heart of Peoria Commission, Zoning Commission, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Historic Preservation Commission. I’m one of the two representatives from HOPC. So far, we’ve had two meetings. No decisions have been made yet, but we’ve discussed street wall and parking setback requirements and worked on crafting definitions for “change of use” and “expansion of use.”

  2. Requested the City Council temporarily amend the LDC while the LDC Review Committee completes its work. This is on Tuesday’s agenda. Basically, they want to make it easier for projects in a form district to get an exception from the regulations. Currently, any exceptions to the regulations must go through the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). The ZBA’s decision is final; any appeals have to go through circuit court. Planning and Growth is requesting instead that any exceptions be handled as a special use request; that would require the City Council’s approval. Again, this request is just for a six-month period — long enough for the committee to complete its work.

During the Heart of Peoria Commission meeting Friday morning (which wasn’t attended by any media, incidentally), that second point was one of the topics of discussion.

Some commissioners felt the temporary LDC change was a good idea. They argued, like Planning and Growth, that the LDC Review Committee’s recommendations “could include rewriting of certain regulations or removal of them after a determination that they may be too extensive.” Hence, exceptions during this time should be able to be made legislatively (through the council) rather than judicially (through the ZBA). The applicant would still have to make their case either way; it would only change which body has the final say.

Others, like me, were skeptical. I didn’t hear a compelling reason why this change was necessary. First of all, there don’t appear to be a rash of requests before the ZBA (in fact, their last regular meeting was cancelled because they didn’t have a single case). Secondly, the issues that are being reviewed by the committee are limited in scope, so there’s no need to change the exceptions procedure for all form district regulations. Others pointed out that exceptions made under this proposed temporary change could set a bad precedent.

The Heart of Peoria Commission was split on the issue. A motion in favor of the temporary change failed 3-4. That was followed by a motion to make no changes to the exception process while the commission completes its work; that motion passed 4-3.